A/N : Oi! I do hope all you Harry Potter fanatics enjoy this weekend as we
all finally get hold of book five...^_^...I'll hopefully be posting the
next chapter next Wednesday when I get back from my very long HP
party...Enjoy!
A/N #2 : This is the second upload of this chapter...apparently FF.net is having "sent" issues (as that in some spots I have 26 chapters listed and in others I have only 25 still...and the interesting conflict between 101 or 99 reviews...peculiar)...
Chapter #26 - Prefects
Before the beginning of the new year, new came that was a shock to the wizarding community. They had received word that America that they would be coming in to help in the war efforts with Britain and the other Allies since Japan had attacked one of the Muggle naval ports. It had not been big news when the events in the Pacific really became of importance to the Muggles, but now with America in the war in Europe, it was a daily part of the news. Not only were their Muggle military forces coming to the island, but there was also an entire division of witches and wizards coming to help the European Ministries as well - completely unknown to the Muggles, of course.
The Christmas holiday was over far too fast for Tom. Soon classes had started again and the days seemed to drag by. Tom kept up his search for the Chamber, though, even though he was again getting frustrated, as he had been a few times before. But he was not about to give up.not after he had spent so much time trying to find it. If it took him till the last day of his seventh year to find it, he would.
By the end of February, it felt as though the end of the school year was coming too fast and the teachers seemed to respond by giving their students a lot more homework and Tom was already stressed enough with his seemingly endless search for his ancestor's secret chamber. He did his best, though, to keep up with all the work, often having to search the castle late at night by himself since Lena was having more work than he. But his late nights were taking their toil on him and he was not getting as much sleep as he should have been.
Winter melted away into spring. The lengthening day soon began to draw more and more students outside, leaving Tom and Lena more freedom to start looking more without fearing literally running into anyone under the cloak, as they had nearly done a time or two before. Their searches still all seemed to be vain attempts since each time they returned from searching, they had still found nothing. At the end of April they decided to stop looking until their summer holiday began so they would not be distracted with that while they should be getting ready for their final examinations, which were a little more than a month away.
During May, there was suddenly a near uproar among the students when Hagrid *apparently* got another pet, though he said it was not so. What seemed to have happened was that he had gone into the Forbidden Forest and this time gotten caught coming out. But in his company was one of the creatures of the forest. It was a relatively rare one too, a gytrash, a type of "spectral" dog. The one with him was still a pup and seemed to be orphaned, as that the mother should have been with it. Professor Calhoun gladly took the little one into her care and had a lesson with all her Care of Magical Creatures classes about these rare magical dogs.
Exams were there in no time and the end of year feast was served and the house cup was awarded to Slytherin. According to most of the Slytherins, this was mainly Tom's doing since he had gotten nearly a hundred points in that year by himself, not only because of his increasing knowledge, but also his helping other students with their lesson quite often, even if the students were not in his house. This impressed all the teachers, including Dumbledore, and everyone knew that he would be one of the new prefects for the next year. It was only about a week and a half after that when the professors all sat down and chose the newest prefects.
Professor Sidus left the Teachers' Lounge once this meeting was over, smiling. The numbers always varied depending on the way the students performed. This year there were thirteen new prefects, and he was *very* proud that *four* of them were in his own house - two boys and two girls. He went down into the dungeon and to his house's secret entrance. He said the password then entered when the wall opened to admit him. The few students in the common room looked up at him, a little surprised to see him since he rarely came down there unless for something important.
"Ah, Sylvia," he smiled as the teenage girl looked up, "I have something for you."
When he showed her the silver badge, she gasped, fighting the urge to jump up from the couch and run to him. Her head of house walked to her and pinned the badge to her robes, right above her house patch. She smiled up at him then he patted her on her red hair. She was nearly grinning from ear to ear.
"Is Helen in her room?"
"I think so."
The Astronomy professor nodded then headed down the girls' hallway. He stopped in front of the right door and knocked on the now fifth years' door. The door cracked open and the student he was looking for stood there in her dressing gown. When she saw it was her head of house, she opened the door a little wider. He smiled at her, as he had Sylvia, showing her another badge to her.
"This belongs to you."
The young woman's eyes widened as he placed it in her hand, so she could pin it to her uniform. She just stared at it for a moment then thanked him, closing the door. He then turned to go see the boys to give them their badges. When he reached their room, he knocked and Crinis told him to come in. He opened the door, seeing three of the five boys there. One of them was who he was looking for.
"Lestrange," he held up the badge for Nathan to see it, "this would be yours."
Nathan looked very surprised, shaking his head. "I don't deserve it. Tom's..."
"He's getting one too." He walked to him and pinned it to his uniform. "You deserve it just as much according to the rest of the professors."
The teenager nodded, though reluctantly.
"Do any of you know where Riddle is?"
"Library," they all said in unison.
Professor Sidus nodded in slight surprise that they would all so readily know where he was then turned and left. He left the common room and returned to the entrance hall. He headed towards the library, hoping that soon he would be giving the last badge to the student he thought deserved it the most. And Mr. Riddle being in the library made him feel proud. Surely the boy was researching some amazingly interesting thing.
Once he arrived at the library, he began to look around for his student. He found him in the "Charms" section, books scattered around the table he was at. Professor De Nuit was there, pinning a badge on Miss Westbrook, whom was standing beside Tom.
"Now how did *you* get from Ravenclaw House back here so quickly?"
"I didn't go there first. These are *my* prefects, I knew they'd be here. I found Mr. Ports first and had a few words with him because he wanted to make sure he knew what it entailed being a prefect. After that I started looking for Miss Westbrook." She smiled towards Tom. "I'll leave you so you may go about your own business, Edward. I must go find Miss Bergum. No doubt she's with her boyfriend."
As she left, Professor Sidus smiled at Tom. "I'm sure you know why I'm here, then."
"Yessir."
He held out the last badge he had. "When we chose prefects, yours was the first name mentioned and you were agreed upon with no arguments."
Tom had surely thought that Dumbledore would have had some words to say against him being a prefect, at least. "Really?"
"Yes." He nodded, still smiling. "Keep up all your good work and you might be Head Boy in two years."
"I shall try my hardest to get that too."
The professor pinned the prefect badge to Tom's robes. "Congratulations, Riddle. I don't think any of the other students deserved this more than you."
The two new prefects watched him leave, both smiling, and it was all because of the badges now shining on their chests. They were prefects...which meant they would be granted *much* more freedom to do as they pleased. They were trusted by their professors and they would use that trust for all it was worth.
Their new status also would give them permission to use the Restricted Section whenever they wished. Their being able to use it only on weekends and holidays was the one thing that Madam Beech was still strict about, even though she had taught them the spell to get down all the books two years before, which not even most prefects knew. They could research so much more now, and there would be few that would question their research, even if what they were studying was ever really found out because they *were* prefects now and prefects were known for "expanding" their knowledge of *all* things.
"Are you thinking what I am?"
"Most likely." Tom grinned. "So much more freedom..."
"Unlimited access to the Restricted Section..."
"Extended curfew..."
"This is wonderful!"
"I know." He pulled her closer, checked to make sure no one was watching, then kissed her. "Wonderful..."
"My dad'll want to celebrate this," she said, more to herself than anything.
Tom frowned. "'Least you have someone who cares."
"I'll be sure to ask him if you can join us."
"Really?"
"Yes." She finally sat back in her chair, not looking at him as she pulled a book to her. "He's been wanting to meet you."
"He has?" He thought about her mother. "I don't know if I'd want to go. The few times I've seen your mum, she hasn't seemed to like me."
"Oh," she looked down some, "my mum won't be coming. She's really ill."
"I'm sorry to hear that," he said, knowing that she *did* really love her mother.
"It's alright. Mum's always been a little frail. That's one of the reasons she so easily irritated." She smiled up at Tom. "But I know she'll get better soon. I'm sure of it. She always does."
Tom nodded.
Lena changed the subject, smiling broadly. "And since Diagon Alley is back open, we can possibly go there. Dad told me when he went last week that it looks just like it used to. He saw it after the bombing too...part of his office's job for some reason."
"Back to Diagon? You think..."
"If I ask for that specifically, yeah. We'd probably have to Floo, though."
"Floo?"
"Travel by Floo Powder."
"Oh," he had heard of it but never used that method of travel, "right."
"So...would you like to..."
"Yes," he said, a little too loud. He clapped his hand over his mouth when he saw a third year peeked around a bookcase at him.
"Then I'll write him first thing in the morning and let him know."
***
To my reviewers -
MayDancer27 - yes...Tom's intuition is very important here...and I make it a point in the story...there are some things that come up towards the end of the story that strike Tom but he doesn't really understand what it means at the time...my partyish fun? What fun?
RivanKnight - no...sadly Darcy doesn't get "punished" for it...Tom's not quite that strict yet...hmm...banana...ick...but thanks anyway...
kat - thanks for letting me know that you were reading along...I do hope that you continue to like the story as it nears finishing...sorry it took so long to get this chapter up...
***
Please review me and let me know what you think...^_^
A/N #2 : This is the second upload of this chapter...apparently FF.net is having "sent" issues (as that in some spots I have 26 chapters listed and in others I have only 25 still...and the interesting conflict between 101 or 99 reviews...peculiar)...
Chapter #26 - Prefects
Before the beginning of the new year, new came that was a shock to the wizarding community. They had received word that America that they would be coming in to help in the war efforts with Britain and the other Allies since Japan had attacked one of the Muggle naval ports. It had not been big news when the events in the Pacific really became of importance to the Muggles, but now with America in the war in Europe, it was a daily part of the news. Not only were their Muggle military forces coming to the island, but there was also an entire division of witches and wizards coming to help the European Ministries as well - completely unknown to the Muggles, of course.
The Christmas holiday was over far too fast for Tom. Soon classes had started again and the days seemed to drag by. Tom kept up his search for the Chamber, though, even though he was again getting frustrated, as he had been a few times before. But he was not about to give up.not after he had spent so much time trying to find it. If it took him till the last day of his seventh year to find it, he would.
By the end of February, it felt as though the end of the school year was coming too fast and the teachers seemed to respond by giving their students a lot more homework and Tom was already stressed enough with his seemingly endless search for his ancestor's secret chamber. He did his best, though, to keep up with all the work, often having to search the castle late at night by himself since Lena was having more work than he. But his late nights were taking their toil on him and he was not getting as much sleep as he should have been.
Winter melted away into spring. The lengthening day soon began to draw more and more students outside, leaving Tom and Lena more freedom to start looking more without fearing literally running into anyone under the cloak, as they had nearly done a time or two before. Their searches still all seemed to be vain attempts since each time they returned from searching, they had still found nothing. At the end of April they decided to stop looking until their summer holiday began so they would not be distracted with that while they should be getting ready for their final examinations, which were a little more than a month away.
During May, there was suddenly a near uproar among the students when Hagrid *apparently* got another pet, though he said it was not so. What seemed to have happened was that he had gone into the Forbidden Forest and this time gotten caught coming out. But in his company was one of the creatures of the forest. It was a relatively rare one too, a gytrash, a type of "spectral" dog. The one with him was still a pup and seemed to be orphaned, as that the mother should have been with it. Professor Calhoun gladly took the little one into her care and had a lesson with all her Care of Magical Creatures classes about these rare magical dogs.
Exams were there in no time and the end of year feast was served and the house cup was awarded to Slytherin. According to most of the Slytherins, this was mainly Tom's doing since he had gotten nearly a hundred points in that year by himself, not only because of his increasing knowledge, but also his helping other students with their lesson quite often, even if the students were not in his house. This impressed all the teachers, including Dumbledore, and everyone knew that he would be one of the new prefects for the next year. It was only about a week and a half after that when the professors all sat down and chose the newest prefects.
Professor Sidus left the Teachers' Lounge once this meeting was over, smiling. The numbers always varied depending on the way the students performed. This year there were thirteen new prefects, and he was *very* proud that *four* of them were in his own house - two boys and two girls. He went down into the dungeon and to his house's secret entrance. He said the password then entered when the wall opened to admit him. The few students in the common room looked up at him, a little surprised to see him since he rarely came down there unless for something important.
"Ah, Sylvia," he smiled as the teenage girl looked up, "I have something for you."
When he showed her the silver badge, she gasped, fighting the urge to jump up from the couch and run to him. Her head of house walked to her and pinned the badge to her robes, right above her house patch. She smiled up at him then he patted her on her red hair. She was nearly grinning from ear to ear.
"Is Helen in her room?"
"I think so."
The Astronomy professor nodded then headed down the girls' hallway. He stopped in front of the right door and knocked on the now fifth years' door. The door cracked open and the student he was looking for stood there in her dressing gown. When she saw it was her head of house, she opened the door a little wider. He smiled at her, as he had Sylvia, showing her another badge to her.
"This belongs to you."
The young woman's eyes widened as he placed it in her hand, so she could pin it to her uniform. She just stared at it for a moment then thanked him, closing the door. He then turned to go see the boys to give them their badges. When he reached their room, he knocked and Crinis told him to come in. He opened the door, seeing three of the five boys there. One of them was who he was looking for.
"Lestrange," he held up the badge for Nathan to see it, "this would be yours."
Nathan looked very surprised, shaking his head. "I don't deserve it. Tom's..."
"He's getting one too." He walked to him and pinned it to his uniform. "You deserve it just as much according to the rest of the professors."
The teenager nodded, though reluctantly.
"Do any of you know where Riddle is?"
"Library," they all said in unison.
Professor Sidus nodded in slight surprise that they would all so readily know where he was then turned and left. He left the common room and returned to the entrance hall. He headed towards the library, hoping that soon he would be giving the last badge to the student he thought deserved it the most. And Mr. Riddle being in the library made him feel proud. Surely the boy was researching some amazingly interesting thing.
Once he arrived at the library, he began to look around for his student. He found him in the "Charms" section, books scattered around the table he was at. Professor De Nuit was there, pinning a badge on Miss Westbrook, whom was standing beside Tom.
"Now how did *you* get from Ravenclaw House back here so quickly?"
"I didn't go there first. These are *my* prefects, I knew they'd be here. I found Mr. Ports first and had a few words with him because he wanted to make sure he knew what it entailed being a prefect. After that I started looking for Miss Westbrook." She smiled towards Tom. "I'll leave you so you may go about your own business, Edward. I must go find Miss Bergum. No doubt she's with her boyfriend."
As she left, Professor Sidus smiled at Tom. "I'm sure you know why I'm here, then."
"Yessir."
He held out the last badge he had. "When we chose prefects, yours was the first name mentioned and you were agreed upon with no arguments."
Tom had surely thought that Dumbledore would have had some words to say against him being a prefect, at least. "Really?"
"Yes." He nodded, still smiling. "Keep up all your good work and you might be Head Boy in two years."
"I shall try my hardest to get that too."
The professor pinned the prefect badge to Tom's robes. "Congratulations, Riddle. I don't think any of the other students deserved this more than you."
The two new prefects watched him leave, both smiling, and it was all because of the badges now shining on their chests. They were prefects...which meant they would be granted *much* more freedom to do as they pleased. They were trusted by their professors and they would use that trust for all it was worth.
Their new status also would give them permission to use the Restricted Section whenever they wished. Their being able to use it only on weekends and holidays was the one thing that Madam Beech was still strict about, even though she had taught them the spell to get down all the books two years before, which not even most prefects knew. They could research so much more now, and there would be few that would question their research, even if what they were studying was ever really found out because they *were* prefects now and prefects were known for "expanding" their knowledge of *all* things.
"Are you thinking what I am?"
"Most likely." Tom grinned. "So much more freedom..."
"Unlimited access to the Restricted Section..."
"Extended curfew..."
"This is wonderful!"
"I know." He pulled her closer, checked to make sure no one was watching, then kissed her. "Wonderful..."
"My dad'll want to celebrate this," she said, more to herself than anything.
Tom frowned. "'Least you have someone who cares."
"I'll be sure to ask him if you can join us."
"Really?"
"Yes." She finally sat back in her chair, not looking at him as she pulled a book to her. "He's been wanting to meet you."
"He has?" He thought about her mother. "I don't know if I'd want to go. The few times I've seen your mum, she hasn't seemed to like me."
"Oh," she looked down some, "my mum won't be coming. She's really ill."
"I'm sorry to hear that," he said, knowing that she *did* really love her mother.
"It's alright. Mum's always been a little frail. That's one of the reasons she so easily irritated." She smiled up at Tom. "But I know she'll get better soon. I'm sure of it. She always does."
Tom nodded.
Lena changed the subject, smiling broadly. "And since Diagon Alley is back open, we can possibly go there. Dad told me when he went last week that it looks just like it used to. He saw it after the bombing too...part of his office's job for some reason."
"Back to Diagon? You think..."
"If I ask for that specifically, yeah. We'd probably have to Floo, though."
"Floo?"
"Travel by Floo Powder."
"Oh," he had heard of it but never used that method of travel, "right."
"So...would you like to..."
"Yes," he said, a little too loud. He clapped his hand over his mouth when he saw a third year peeked around a bookcase at him.
"Then I'll write him first thing in the morning and let him know."
***
To my reviewers -
MayDancer27 - yes...Tom's intuition is very important here...and I make it a point in the story...there are some things that come up towards the end of the story that strike Tom but he doesn't really understand what it means at the time...my partyish fun? What fun?
RivanKnight - no...sadly Darcy doesn't get "punished" for it...Tom's not quite that strict yet...hmm...banana...ick...but thanks anyway...
kat - thanks for letting me know that you were reading along...I do hope that you continue to like the story as it nears finishing...sorry it took so long to get this chapter up...
***
Please review me and let me know what you think...^_^